All right, you decided to start spending more time outdoors – you and your family.
That is both a necessary and wise decision indeed. Many fail to even get this far in thinking, placing so many other businesses before, which will – lo and behold – truly prevent them from getting outside for the reason that by then they would be too tired to do so.
Now, one can plant her-/himself out there, on a rock, on a log, for the more sensitive ones on a bench and still only be physically present, their eyes – the mind’s extension – only wandering from thing to thing, event to event, turning inwards and contemplating their own past and future, where the future is nothing but a mere extension of the past forward. In other words, when this happens one is experiencing a delusion of being outdoors while truly being in the mental landscape of their own past, reliving sameness.
That’s a huge missed opportunity. For a start, however, is acceptable. May we suggest, though, that you begin feeling genuinely outdoors. In nature.
For that the “implant” of you has to organically start communicating with the surroundings. You have to integrate your being into and among the members of infinity enveloping you close and afar. In fact, by definition this infinity penetrates your body as well. You are intrinsic part of it all, this fact just needs to register with your consciousness.
True connection to nature has to enter your awareness.
It is a matter of development, like working on some muscle bundles. It takes time, so, be patient with yourself. But also be curious to discover more and more detail, depth – that’s the way to get higher and higher.
From the get-go, however, you ought to open up your heart.
Let your heart and soul be the first sense that calls out for anyone and anything (you’ll notice that things will quickly turn into animate beings for you too) in space-time, akin to energetic tentacles, in a giving way, waiting for response.
This morning, still in dark, well before sunrise, while out in our backyard tending to my start-of-the -day ritual, not for the first time, in a relaxed fashion I thought of a shooting star. One lit up right then, in front of my eyes, without having to search for it in the sky. That’s a response too and a rather quick one. Imagine for a moment, that this was a remote manifestation, encompassing thousands of miles in distance and in a way involving the cosmos. Now, what if you try the same (without demanding an answer, just kind of saying “wouldn’t that be nice, if…”), but here, down on Earth? It is bound to work – it’s the law.
Following the kind, inviting emanation of the core of your body (heart and sole), now begin engaging your other senses too.
Observe nature to feel part of it.
Start to notice birds signaling their presence, in air, from the bushes, critters crawling around your giant feet.
Feel and see the air move, change direction and force.
Take note of different scents it carries into your olfactory system.
Taste the different flavor nuances of snow and raindrops.
Become tactile with the surfaces you happen by.
Let all these memories collect into your subconscious and redefine who you are, someone richer by the moment of truthful, reliable experiences, that you can confidently draw from for the rest of your life. Unlike fact-checked fake news that our human world is so chock-full of, one is about to be sick from.
Allow nature to continually influence and inspire you to take considerate actions.
At ForestCreekMeadows we have recently started creating an aid kit, a field companion, if you will, for such experiences of immersion into nature, and we aptly named it Earth Gratitude Journal.
Each 9-page issue is released at the end of each month, available for purchase on our Patreon page and ready to be printed out. It contains several journal prompts, story starters, poems, different exercises either introducing you into nature-related spirituality or intended to increase your longevity and well-being, pertaining inspirational quotes, sketches that you can complete and color in, as well as a so-called Nature’s Screen, through which you can observe, wander at and take nature in. All the while you are encouraged to discern, reflect, bond with nature, your and our nurturer.
You can just dabble in – although we strongly encourage you to immerse yourself into – the Earth Gratitude Journal project by downloading and printing out the free copies of the first two issues of it, entitled Awakening and Breathe, respectively. Telling titles, right? We certainly hope they will make a difference in your life, in your approach to nature, deepening your relationship to Mother Earth and that these monthly issues, €5 each, the price of a tall coffee, can become your new, healthy “addiction”.
Download your first issue of the Earth Gratitude Journal here:
Earth gratitude Journal, Issue 1. – Awakening
Earth Gratitude Journal, Issue 2. – Breathe
And for our Hungarian readers:
Magyar olvasóink/követőink számára a Hála a Földnek napló magyarnyelvű változatával is szolgálunk, melyek Roland és Csermely irodalmi igényű fordításában már most és a jövőben folyamatosan elérhetők, megvásárolhatók, letölthetők lesznek a Patreon oldalunkról. Ízelítőnek álljon itt az első két ingyenes szám linkje. Kellemes idő- és lélektöltést kívánunk velük a szabadban!
Hála a Földnek napló, 1. Szám – Ébredés
Hála a Földnek napló, 2. Szám – Lélegezz
